Piano-action



(No Model.)

. L. A. BARBER;

PIANO ACTION.

No. 527,399. Patented Oct. 16,1894.

J gg 6 4/ k WITNESSES: INVENTOR.

ATTORNE YS.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE;

LUTHER A. BARBER, OF GROTON, NEYV YORK.

PIANO-ACTION.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 527,399, dated October16, 1894.

Application filed January 25, 1893. Serial No. 459,635. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it'known that I, LUTHER A. BARBER, of Groton, in the county ofTompkins, in the State of New York, have invented new and usefulImprovements in Piano-Actions, of which the following, taken inconnection with the accompanying drawings, is a full, clear,

and exact description.

' provide the action with auxiliary levers interposed between the pushrod and thejack,

actuated by said rod, and bearing at all times against the jack lever,said jack lever, or the auxiliary ones, being provided with camshapedmeeting faces, or one of them having a plane face and the other one aconvex or cam face; said auxiliary levers being mounted in a carrierconnected to and moved vertically by the soft pedal rod, and havingtheir other ends connected to the push rods which are actuatedvertically by the finger keys; and each push rod being pivotallyconnected to abell-crank lever which is adapted to engage with thedamper lever.

My invention consists in the several novel features of construction andoperation hereinafter described and which are specifically set forth inthe claims hereunto annexed. It is constructed as follows referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1, is a sideelevation showing my invention applied to a standard movement toaccelerate the action of the jack and also the damper, if desired. Fig.2, shows the accelerating mechanism applied directly to the hammer,through the key-lever.

In the drawings, the action shown is that of an upright piano, but itwill be apparent that my invention can be readily applied to the actionof a square or a grand piano by any good mechanic.

The frame and usual end upright of the action, are not shown in thedrawings, as of or dinary construction, said uprights carrying thehorizontal rail -s, and the other parts in the usual manner.

The key levers a are mounted in the frame in the usual manner, and thepush rod -bis connected thereto, its lower end being connected to or inengagement with the cam lever 19' when such a lever is used inconjunction with the cam-faced jack-lever, and its upper end beingconnected tothe auxiliary lever c-, the rear end of which is pivotallyconnected to the pedal rail --p which issupported by the soft pedal rodrwhich is'connected to it near its center, said rail being adapted to bemoved vertically by the movement of the pedal rod.

The jack lever -d is pivoted at one end to the rail s and is shown ashaving a cam face in contact with the plane face of the auxiliary lever,but it is evident that these faces can be transposed, and also that bothmay be cam faced. By cam-faced I do not wholly mean that they may besimply convex, but the face may be curved like unto a parabola. The jack-e is mounted and connected to the jack lever and engages with thehammer butt in the usual manner. his the hammer stem, -k the hammer andnthe buffer. The damper mis mounted upon a lever mpivotally connected toan extension of the rail -s and its lower end is adapted to be engagedby the upper arm of the bell-crank lever 2 pivoted upon a rod -3transverse to the frame, the horizontal arm of said lever beingconnected to the push-rod -b. A red -4- also connects the soft pedal rodr, or the pedal rail -pto the buffer n. A cam lever or a cam-faced foot-b is connected or secured to the push-rod and engaged directly by therear end of the key lever, or through a cam lever xinterposed betweenthe key and the foot of the push-rod and pivoted to the key and upon arod transverse to the frame. A spring -5 engages either with the hammerbutt h or with the stem -h to return the hammer or other parts to theirnormal positions when the key is released.

When a key is struck the movement of the push-rod, jack and hammer isaccelerated by the single cam action of the auxiliary lever --cand thejack lever OZ-3 or said lever with the jack e directly, as in Fig. 2, orby the combination therewith of the acceleration created by the armaction of the key upon the lower end or foot of the push-rod; so thatthe action is very much quickened and a' sharper and more incisive blowis struck upon the string -y-. At the same time, through the action ofthe bell-crank --2 (cam-faced also if desired) upon the damper, thelatter is removed from the string much more quickly. Furthermore, theoperation of this piano action is much easier, as it is relieved of agreat deal of unnecessary frictional and other resistance.

When the soft pedal is operated the pedal rail is raised thereby andthrough the rod -4- the bufier n,- is thrown over, and through thelifting of the rear end of the auxiliary lever c the jack is rocked uponits pivot, changing its pointof bearing upon the lever -c-, and at thesame time the hammer is thrown over closer to the string; In thismanner, the raising of the pedal rod, directly changes the bearing ofthe jack, on jack lever and also shifts the bufier and hammer, to thesoft pedal action;- and all of the j acks, jack-levers, bufiers and;hammers are uniformly shifted, without any rocking ot the rail s-, andthere is no slack or lost motion anywhere in the action, or at. any timeduring itsoperation, and the touch. and

sensitivenessv of the keys is secured, main- 1 tained, and made muchmore effective.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

1. The combination with the key, of the push-rod, the auxiliary jacklever and the pedal rail connected together, the jack lever, the jackand the hammer.

2. The combination with the. key,,of the push rod, the auxiliaryjack-lever pivotally mounted in the rear to the vertically movable pedalrail, the pedal rail and connections between it and the soft pedal, andthe buffer, the jack lever, the jack, the hammer and the buffer.

3. The combination with the key, of the push rod, the auxiliaryjack-lever, pivotally mounted in the rear upon the vertically movablepedal rail, the pedal rail and connections between it and the softpedal, and the buffer,

the cam-faced jack lever, the jack, the hammer, and the buffer.

4. The combination with the key and the push rod actuated thereby, ofthe bell-crank lever having one arm connected to the push rod, and theother engaging with the damper stem, the damper upon said stem, theauxiliary jack lever connected to the push rod,

posed between them, of the bell crank lever having onearm connected tothe push rod and ithe other engaging with the damper stem, the damperupon said stem, the auxiliary jack lever connected to the push rod andto the pedal rail, the cam-faced jack lever, in

engagementwith the auxiliary lever the jack, the hammer and the buffer.

6. The combination with the jack and the jack-lever, of the push-rod,the key and a cam between and engaging with both of them to-actuate thejack lever.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand. this 15th day of August,1892.

LUTHER A. BARBER. In presence of- D. H. MARSH, G. J. FLANAGAN.

